Early life

Mann was born in Sacramento, California and attended Valley High School.

College career

Mann attended and played college football at the University of Nevada, where he played defensive end from 1979 to 1982. During his senior season, he led the Big Sky Conference with 14 sacks and was named the conference's Most Valuable Defensive Lineman.

Professional career

Mann was drafted in the third round of the 1983 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins and by his second season, he was the starting left defensive end, opposite to Dexter Manley. During this time, Mann had double-digit sack seasons four times, including a career-high 14.5 in 1985, which was just his third season in the NFL.

Mann finished his career with the Redskins with 82 sacks, second-most in franchise history, and 17 forced fumbles, the most in franchise history, and also won Super Bowl XXII and Super Bowl XXVI. He was released by the Redskins and signed as a free agent with the San Francisco 49ers in 1994, where he won another Super Bowl (Super Bowl XXIX) before retiring.

After football

Mann helped found the Good Samaritan Foundation with his Washington teammates Art Monk, Tim Johnson and Earnest Byner. The foundation provides youth with the environment needed to equip them with the skills, training and resources necessary to compete successfully in society through the Student Training Opportunity Program (STOP). The program serves more than 50 high school students, four days a week during the school year and five days a week during the summer providing after-school programs, tutoring and mentoring.

In 1993, Mann was voted the “Washingtonian of the Year." Among his many accomplishments, Mann serves as a member of the board of Inova Health Systems and as Chairman of the Inova Alexandria Hospital Quality Committee, the board of the McLean School and a Deacon with Grace Covenant Church in Chantilly, Virginia.

Prior to starting his own company, Mann was aligned with some of the best known brands locally and nationally: ESPN, BET, WUSA (TV) and WJFK-FM as Color Analyst & Reporter. McDonalds, Diet Coke and Swanson as Spokesman. Mann has been involved with National Kidney Foundation, United Way and the Ronald McDonald House Charities, The Border Babies Foundation, the “Read And Achieve Program,” “Why School is Cool” Program, The Metropolitan Boys and Girls Clubs, Children’s Hospital, The Children’s Cancer Foundation and President Clinton’s National Service Initiative Committee. He is also an advocate of player safety while upholding the intensity of sports, focusing his efforts with an impact sensor device company, Brain Sentry.

Mann and his wife of twenty-five years, Tyrena and their three children, currently live in the Washington area. Mann's son, Cameron, is in the graduating class of 2010 at the McLean School of Maryland. Cameron has starred in many of the school's plays, and is a member of the High School Choir.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]